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The Painted Art Journal is a book unlike any other I've seen. I've seen instructional books that teach you how to make art journals but this book from Jeanne Oliver is at a more personal level.

This book has 24 projects to help make your own autobiographical art journal. For example, the first project wants you to look for old family photos, objects that you collect, like magazine cutouts, postcards from overseas, quotes that speak to you, and combine all that into a huge art collage. It's like creating a window that looks into different parts or time of your life. That's quite cool.

Another project involves setting up a vintage book as your journal. You can draw directly onto the old yellow pages, or paint gesso to treat the surface before painting. The project that follows invites you to hand-bind a journal using different types of paper and cards.

There's a project on how you can set up your own portable watercolour palette using vintage tins. Another project wants you to create colour swatches of paint you collect. Some projects teaches you how to create special marks, like using coffee, ink droppers, little twigs.

Many projects have a personal element to it. For example, there's one that wants you to create a circular timeline with sections that features different areas of your life. One project involves working on old class photos, and there are some projects that wants you to draw people you know using various mixed media techniques.

As you can probably tell, this is a very hands-on book. It's also a very creative book, one that's really expressive and meaningful. It's a great book for those who want a creative outlet, for those who want to express themselves.

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